In the processing of food products—in particular in the transport of product slices produced by cutting product loaves (e.g. cheese, sausage, ham) by means of cutting machines also called slicers from the cutting machine to downstream processing stations, for example to a packaging machine—there is the need to be able to apply one or more changes of direction to the products during the transport. In practice, the food products are usually available in the form of a continuous product stream, or one that is only occasionally interrupted, of individual product slices or of product slices in stacked or overlapping portions.
For the realization of changes in direction, so-called curved belt conveyors or curved band conveyors are known which include one or more endless belts or link belts guided by rolls or rollers and each having an upper run and a lower run. The manufacturer of conveyors of this type is, however, complex and expensive and the operation of these conveyors is prone to problems. It is furthermore disadvantageous that in each case only a fixed deflection angle of typically 45° can be realized with curved belt conveyors of this type due to the design. It is furthermore disadvantageous that the deflection pulleys used are comparatively large due to the design, which results in problems on the transfer of relatively small product slices.